A Biblical Model for Relationships
At most church weddings, someone reads from the Bible, and they usually read this bit …
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13)
You might have heard that section, most people have. We read this section of the Bible at weddings because it is a description of great human relationships. It is a vision of God’s good plan for marriage, and in fact, it is God’s good plan for all human relationships.
I was reading this same part of the Bible while munching breakfast yesterday morning, and my mind prompted me to consider what it would look like, feel like and be like if a whole household followed God’s good plan for relationships. Such a household could say…
“Our household is patient; our family is kind. We do not envy each other, we do not boast, we are not proud. In our house we do not dishonour each other, we are not self-seeking, we are not easily angered, we keep no record of each other’s wrongs. Our family does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. We always protect one another, always trust each other, always hope in each other, always persevere for each other.”
Oh… my… gosh… I want to live in that family. I want to be part of that. I want to live with those folks.
Ok, let’s go a step further. What if our College community, you our parents and our teachers, all committed to following God’s marvellous vision for human relationships? What if all of MCC were able to say …
“Our parents are patient; our teachers are kind. We do not envy each other, we do not boast, we are not proud. Our staff and parents do not dishonour each other, we are not self-seeking, we are not easily angered, we keep no record of each other’s wrongs. Our whole College-community does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. We, as parents and staff always protect one another, always trust each other, always hope in each other, always persevere for each other.”
Now that’s a school community that I want to be in! Can you imagine what a beautiful place for our children, for our students that would be? Can you imagine the lovely sense of belonging we would jointly create for our precious learners?
Parents and staff, let’s be patient, let’s be kind. Let’s be free of envy, pride and boastfulness, and instead, let’s protect, trust, hope and persevere for each other.
David Gleeson, Principal